STORRS — Wednesday night was a rather significant milestone for the UConn men. It was the most important victory since some guy named Kemba led the Huskies on a dream mission in 2011.

In the context of those two hours against Syracuse, it meant everything. In the larger context, it could hold great meaning or none at all.

"We know last game was a huge win but all that could be washed away with a loss (today)," guard Ryan Boatright said. "Everything that we're working for and everything we're trying to accomplish rides on the next game and the next one after that. All of them are important."

Villanova (15-10, 6-6 Big East) visits the XL Center for a noon tip today in an ESPN nationally televised game. The Huskies (17-6, 7-4) knocked off Syracuse in an ESPN nationally televised game to make the country take notice of the team could go somewhere while also going nowhere.

Lose today against the schizophrenic Wildcats and the rest of the country can go back to ignoring the feel-good story that is the Huskies.

UConn plowed through its usual viewing of the Syracuse tape to accentuate the good things and correct the bad things. It has moved on in hopes that the victory was a building block and not an end point.

"Go and get a win," UConn coach Kevin Ollie said. "That's how you build off it. The guys came in focused (Thursday) and (Friday), so we're building."

The loss of Enosch Wolf has caused Ollie and the Huskies to build in a different manner. The blueprint had to be adjusted.

The new approach worked well against Syracuse, so much so that the Huskies now have a player averaging five rebounds per game in DeAndre Daniels. He has pulled down an average of 6.5 rebounds during the last six games and now sits at an average of exactly five. That was a goal Ollie had set for anybody willing to get there.

In adjusting, Ollie had to play the combination of Daniels and Niels Giffey long minutes against Syracuse. Ollie had said he would do that in only an extreme circumstance, and the loss of Wolf provided such.

Many coaches would have panicked in such a situation, but Ollie seems to approach things differently.

Rather than panic, Ollie went to the combination with confidence. It paid off and might continue to do so.

"We're thin, so everything is an option to me right now," Ollie said. "If we get in foul trouble, anything happens, we're going to have to make adjustments. Everybody's alive. You might see Leon (Tolksdorf) at (center). You just never know, seriously.

"I think whoever I play is going to produce. I thought (Phil) Nolan was going to come produce. It's just how I think. I wouldn't put you in the game if I didn't think you would make a play for us to win the game. I got that belief in them and hopefully they got that belief in themselves. That's the main thing."

The belief will be tested in a different way today. UConn has seen steady diets of zone defense for most of the last six games. It has become relatively proficient in dealing with the zone. Villanova has not played much zone this year.

The Wildcats are also difficult to figure out. They lost to Columbia by 18 points early in the year, have twice lost to Providence but also beat Louisville and Syracuse in consecutive games. And there's always the possibility of a letdown, though this team never seems to get too high or too low. It hasn't ripped off any long winning streaks in league play but it also hasn't lost more than two in a row.

"It's just wanting to win so bad," Boatright said. "When you drop one, the next one you want to get back on track. Even if we drop that one, there's no way we're going to lose three in a row. We come into the gym and get back to the basics and start working for it again."

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